The Guv’s Jury Nullification Defense

Governor McDonnell and his wife have now been indicted on 14 felony counts. The Guv and his Missus are entitled to mount a vigorous legal defense to these charges. I understand he has established a legal defense fund, now that he can no longer put the expenses of his very pricy legal team in the taxpayers’ tab. I read he’s having a hard time finding underwriters.

His defense to date, which appears to amount to “I haven’t broken any Virginia laws,” is extremely weak and likely would work if these were state charges.

Bobby, these are federal charges, and Virginia’s nonexistent ethics laws don’t play into them except that you likely won’t have to defend yourself in state court.

Absent a plausible defense–“I didn’t do it”–he’s now laughably following the OJ Simpson playbook: they’re out to get me because I’m a Republican.

Is there no one else who sees the supreme irony of this man, one of whose first official acts as governor was to cozy up to the racist and still secessionist leaning Sons of the Confederacy, using the OJ’s jury nullification strategy?

Watching his performance art influenced press conference does cause concern. Lacking a legal defense to the federal charges, the man has raised all the secessionist/state’s rights/federal overreach combined with what he claims is a desired by a Democratic federal Department of Justice decision to bring down a “popular, Republican” governor.

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Bobby, meet federal inmate 40892-424, Rod Blagojevich, currently serving a 14 year federal term in Littleton, CO. I guess it escaped your notice that the same DOJ that you claim is persecuting you for being a Republican put Blago, a Democrat, into the slammer.

McDonnell’s “nullification strategy” is as dishonest as it is repulsive. The worrisome part is that–based in his body language and the optics of that press conference, he appears to believe it.